Back-to-back titles for Johal

For the second straight year, Pritpaul Johal was crowned provincial champion.

The D.W. Poppy student won gold in the boys’ 54-kg weight class over the weekend at the B.C. high school wrestling championships.

The competition was held in Salmon Arm (March 3 and 4) and Johal was one of 10 wrestlers competing for the Langley United Wrestling Club.

The club is made up of students from Poppy, Brookswood, Langley Secondary, Langley Christian and Yorkson Creek.

The medal was one of two the club won as another Poppy wrestler, Parmjot Sidhu, took bronze in the 48-kg class. Sidhu had won the event last year, but missed most of this season with injury.

Some other notable performances included Nathan Hillan (LSS) who cracked the top 10 in the very-competitive 110-kg division.

Ella Jiminiz (DWP) also won a pair of matches in the 60-kg weight class.

Others athletes were Matthew Kaita (1-2), Adam Clay (1-2), Justin Uppal, Marshal Campbell and Cody Dornan. The latter five joined the team this year and wrestled hard and did very well even qualifying for the big tournament.